


as puzzled as a newborn child

by badass_normal



Category: Lost
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-02
Updated: 2010-08-02
Packaged: 2017-10-11 01:23:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/106749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badass_normal/pseuds/badass_normal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He worships her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	as puzzled as a newborn child

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cloudytea](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=cloudytea).



On second glance, Zach recognizes the aging man who comes to visit Ben. All of their older people do, and there is a collective, angry hush as the name _James Ford_ isn't breathed among them and sense memory of black smoke and dying screams tumbles through their skulls.

For minutes, he is the only one to notice the young woman standing silently with Ford. That she won't look at the same thing for more than a second. That she is shifting her weight from one foot to the other like she can't wait to get away. That she must be the only woman besides his sister he has seen in his time on the Island who is within ten years of his age.

And then her eyes lazily sink onto him and she tilts her head curiously and the corner of one lip tips into a quarter-smile for the blink of an eye. Wickedly, but Zach has had no reason to learn about that. Until now.

"Clementine," she tells him eventually and her tongue touches her teeth as she shakes his hand. "My daddy's been here before."

"I know."

\--

He takes her to his favorite place, and her face softens in the sunlight that trickles through the trees. The sound of the waterfall and the sparkle of the pool are something Zach has long taken for granted but Clementine inhales deeply and it's the only time in a long time he'll see her at peace.

She doesn't say anything. She strips off her tank top and her jeans, splashes into the water. She's out there for awhile, up to her waist, and finally she turns and beckons him in after her.

Later, on the rocks, droplets cling to her tanned skin as her light hair darkens in the wet. He shivers and she shows him how to touch her, (apparently a twenty-seven-year-old virgin is pretty much the most pathetic thing she's ever heard of) and her blue eyes glitter mysteriously.

\--

She has no trouble telling him, after explaining the rules, that this is going to be the most boring game of "I Never" in the history of the universe (because, like, what has he ever _done_?) He clutches his bottle of rum, too entranced to be indignant, and much further into the night he's had one gulp and she is leaning against her pile of blankets like she might pass out in a second.

"I've never been in love," he tries timidly.

"Of course you ain't." Clementine doesn't drink, merely stares at him crookedly, her slight drawl more pronounced in this state. "Nice try." She coughs and sprawls back on her blankets and giggles at the alcohol in her lungs. "Girls like me, we don't fall in love."

Two minutes later she's snoring. He watches her for hours, and takes a sip for his recent lie.

\--

"We're leaving." She is cold and flippant. "Me and my dad."

"Why?"

"Because we ain't in the habit of staying in one place too long."

Panic claws through his gut. "It's only been four months." He's breathing hard now, blinking back tears, and anyone would think him the younger of the two.

"Why would I wanna stay?" She folds her arms. "There is one eligible man even close to my age. And he's _you_. You worship me because you got nothin' to compare me to except a dead sister and hey, that'd be weird."

He doesn't get the chance to protest further. She drifts away, onto her next destination. He stays. He wouldn't know what to do with the outside world anyway.

\--

Less than a year down the road, she returns. Alone.

"This should be home," she tells him between desperate, deprived kisses.

"It works well enough for me."

Her fingers lace into his hair and she smiles, at last. Sad. "Yeah."


End file.
